'World will benefit from a stable Indo-Pak relationship'

US-INDOPAK

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jul 28 (PTI) Strongly recommending the case
of continued peace talks between India and Pakistan, the Obama
Administration has said that a stable Indo-Pak relationship
would benefit the world and the US in particular and
reiterated that Islamabad should address New Delhi's concern
with regard to 26/11.
"It is important for Pakistan and India to have a stable
relationship. They, likewise, will have to have a relationship
going forward, and if it is stable, then the world, including
the US, benefits," State Department spokesman, P J Crowley,
told reporters at his daily news briefing.
"So we are very, very conscious of the complexity that
involves these overlapping relationships, and we've worked
hard in our dialogue with each country to try to make this a
more regional approach to a common challenge," he said noting
there is communication going on across these countries that it
thinks is very important, very valuable not just to the US,
but also it is important for Afghanistan and Pakistan to have
a stable relationship.
"We have important national and global interests with
each of these countries. Our support for Afghanistan is not
taken from Pakistan. Our support for Pakistan does not mean a
negative for India," he said.
"It is vitally important that these countries develop
reinforcing relationships; that's what we're trying to do.
That's why one of the fundamental changes in the strategy
that the President approved last year was to make sure that we
are looking at this in a regional rather than just an isolated
issue.
So part of the solution to Afghanistan does, in fact,
fall within the borders of Pakistan," he said.
Crowley argued that a stable Pakistan is not a threat to
India and a stable India does not need to be a threat to
Pakistan.
"In giving military assistance to Pakistan, we have
systems of accountability to be sure that it is being employed
in accordance with the agreements that we have with Pakistan,"
he said.
"Where we have questions about the nature of Pakistani
employment of US assistance, we raise those questions directly
with the Pakistani Government. We have in the past and we will
continue to do that," he said.
"So building up the capability of Pakistan to deal with
the threat within its own borders should not be seen as a
threat to India," Crowley said.
Responding to a question, Crowley said there are concerns
about making sure that Pakistan bring to justice those
responsible for the Mumbai attack.
"We've had that conversation with Pakistan and India
many, many times. Our concerns about elements within Pakistan
and connections that those elements have with the Pakistani
Government, we've had that conversation with Pakistan many
times," he said. PTI LKJ
MRD


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